Best Strategy to Get Press & Military Rap Scene ft. London Dre (fka Doc Todd)

And a brand and a name is so fundamentally important to what you become. Why would I have a name that pushes so many people away when I'm trying to have a name that welcomes people in? The One More Time Music Podcast. Genuine conversations with genuine people about music. Hosted by Henry with a three and playback Ben. One more time. One more time. One more time. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back for another episode of the One More Time Podcast. One more time. It's Thursday. You know what that means. Our favorite day of the week. You know what Thursday means. Yo, Thursdays didn't even used to be really at all a favorite day of mine. And now like I genuinely look forward to Thursdays. Love Thursdays. I love them. I love them. All because of you guys. I'm your host, Playback Ben here with my co-host. Henry with a three, also known as the Trap Jack Black. The Trap Jack Black.

That's so true, though. Right? Henry, who do we have sitting here in the hot seat today on the podcast, my friend? Welcoming in on the 22nd. 22nd. 22 is my favorite number. In case you guys were wondering. Welcoming in on the 22nd episode of the One More Time Podcast, head of Lenox Mall Security, Paul Blart. Yes. He already threw a few people out of the studio this afternoon. Thank you for your services, my friend. Yeah, I'm the Paul Blart of hip hop. Trap Jack Black and the hip hop, Paul Blart. Yeah, hip-hop Paul Blart. Let's do a tape. Yeah, yeah. Let's do a tape. I'm in really weird company right now on this episode. It's gonna be interesting. In all seriousness, we have legendary recording artist. Well, soon to be legendary because it's somewhat of a new brand. We have Mr. London Dre. Hoorah. Hoorah. Hoorah. Hoorah. That's a little marine Corps sound for y'all out there. That's right. Yep. That means we like it. Okay.

Hoorah can mean a million different things. It's kind of like fuck. It's got all the meanings. Yeah, yeah. It's got a bunch of meanings. We appreciate you coming on the podcast. Obviously, you know, we've run in similar circles. Um, a few artists that Henry's worked with, you've also worked with. So definitely looking forward to the conversation today, my friend. Um, so we're gonna get right into it if that's all good. Let's get it. So, you know, I didn't want to beat around the bush because anyone that knows you in a past life does not know you as London Dre. That is that is definitely correct. So basically no one knows me as London Dre. Very few people, no, like at least like a thousand people, I think at this point. Yeah, maybe maybe 1500. Yeah. We've we've we've been able to bring over a nucleus of core Doc Todd fans, but for the most part, yeah, no one knows. Yep. So so you you rebranded, you kind of birthed a new, you know, project under the the uh name London Dre, whereas before you were operating under the artist name Doc Todd. Yep.

Tell us I I just didn't want to leave that till the end, right? Yeah, let's get that out of the way. Yeah, typically we kind of go from like origin story to you know where you're at now. Yeah, we'll we'll rewind in a second, but you know, why did you do that? Just I I wanted to kind of set the stage of like what inspired the rebrand and the new, you know, artist uh artist name. There's definitely one reason above all others that was I would say the catalyst for the change, and that's race. My fan base is which has been, you know, a hyper conservative fan base, male, white, conservative, former military, EMT, firefighter, military uh fan base, you know, that I built from being, you know, in the military rap. I would say I guess it's more like a subgenre now, um, where there's a lot of artists that operate kind of in that military and veteran rap space. And I've been out of the military now for uh almost 12 years. Okay. You know, I fought in Afghanistan in 2009, you know, a lot of my past that that's there is hard to deal with, but also some things that I that is my some of my proudest moments.

Uh, but I noticed that when I try to step out of that box, especially when I try to step out of that box in a place that's probably most important to my heart, maybe even more so than impacting veteran suicide and supporting military, is is having a positive impact on race relations. And when I started to step out of the box to make statements about race and equality and about unity and harmony, the pushback that I got was so off-putting that uh I had to I had to bounce. You were questioning your your fan base and and what they were Yeah, I got to where I hated my fan base. Wow. Wow. Like, you know, like the people. Those are strong words. Yeah, no, for real. Like I didn't like my fan base at all. I didn't like the way they reacted to things that I was doing that that I thought were, you know, full of the right intentions and full of you know good character and good heart. And I didn't like stepping out and sticking up for other people and them saying, like, well, you're supposed to live in this box box and only stick up for us and only talk about our issues and you know, this BLM is a hyper democratic movement funded by white people that I'm like, yo, black lives matter. Like period, period.

Like what like just things like that. And I think it's hard for me to to to really articulate it the way that I want to, but if I had to boil it down to one more thing on one more time, it would be it'd be race. Damn. It would be race. And it's about it's about being able to speak for all people, not just to speak for one particular sect of people. True. Um, and one particular story. Like we all have layers, like Shrek would say, we're onions. Onions. I'm not just a combat veteran. I'm not just a 36-year-old white guy. I'm not just a southerner. I'm not just, you know, a rap artist. I'm not just a father or husband. I'm a lot of all those things mixed together. And you're human at the end of the day. Yeah, exactly. And there's things that are more important than just standing in this box and being this thing that you want me to be. And at the end of the day, that was that was why. Damn. That's that's very interesting. So, you know, I mentioned we'd rewind a little bit.

So you mentioned you're a southerner. You're born and raised in Memphis, Tennessee. Shout out Memphis. Live live music runs in your family, right? I'm really shiesty. Shout out, Pooh. Shout out Pooh Shiesty. Odd, yes. So my brother is a professional musician in Nashville. Um, we we obviously grew up born and raised in Memphis. My brother's a uh professional percussionist and producer. Yeah, but your dad was a he was a promoter. Yes, concert promoter. Ozzy Osbourne, Twisted Sister. This guy pulled some crazy shit out. I'm like, he does his homework. He's the Nardwar of podcasters. Yes, he is. Your dad, he used to bring metal bands to drive in theaters. Yeah, drive in jams. Mike Todd presents. That sounds epic. Wow. Yeah, it was. Did you get to go to some of those shows? No, my dad He didn't let you he quit doing uh he quit selling coke and doing concerts when I was about three. Okay. Well, darn him. Shout out Mike Todd, one of the the best old school concert promoting Coke dealers of all time.

Shout out Mike Todd. my father, yeah. Darn him for stopping so young. Yeah. He didn't reach his prime. He quit when I was three or four. Okay, well. He was he got into family life, I guess. There we go. Good for him. Good for him. But so live music, obviously he was a you know a big promoter. So what were some of your favorite shows, you know, kind of that you can remember growing up? Guns and Roses. Yeah. Um Guns and Roses. What was special about that one? Just uh the energy and like the titties. Shut up, shut up titties. Yeah, like the energy and the titties were like beyond compare at a Guns N' Roses show. But yeah, so so you weren't always a hip hop artist. You you mentioned you know, your dad put on metal shows and kind of hard, you know, hardcore rock shows. You also had a stint in that space. Yes. As a as a member of a band. What was the band name? You already know it. This dude is for real Nardwar on this. Telling you.

Bro, he knows everything. Uh Brutal Honesty, shout out Brutal Honesty. Brutal honesty. What uh role did you play in the band? I would say I was like a half-ass Mike Shinoda. You know Mike Shinoda from Linkin Park? Yeah. So like rhythm guitar and like rapping backing vocals. Yeah, oh cool. Yeah, I was these, I was like the trash underground Mike Shinoda. Yo, we love self-aware. Shout out Fort Myers. We love self-aware artists. So at least you knew what that time in your life was. Yeah, yeah. Four chords and like four bars. That's all you need. Yeah, that's all you need, bro. That's it. Yeah. But yeah, I'm kind of curious. Did you know that you wanted to take music seriously though at that time, or was that completely just for fun? No, I mean it was. I've always had, how do you put this? Like, I've always had that terrible infatuation with music where it fucks with your life. Yeah. Like I love it just enough for it to fuck with my life. Like in every single stage, like young, old, in between.

Like we took ourselves more seriously than we probably should have. I loved playing guitar and writing riffs and I loved rapping. And I don't think I realized how much I loved rapping until later in life, and like a lot of other stories. Um, in between brutal honesty and today, that that really um I would say emboldened my passion for hip-hop. But the the number one thing I would say if I were to boil it down to a sentence all that time from the transition of hip hop or from metal and rock to hip hop is that I got sick of telling other people's story, like being associated with another lead singer or another vocalist or another writer's take on things that wasn't necessarily my own, that wasn't the way that I felt about a situation or wasn't the way that I would have wrote about said thing or said emotion. And I didn't want to put my name on other people's words anymore, and I think that's what ultimately led me to hip hop and rap. That made me that made me really think about how you know, rock music, pop music, you know, you have like eight bar chorus, and then you have maybe eight, 12 bar, you know, verse.

It's kind of spaced out. You only have so much time to like tell a story, right? And then hip hop, you know, you like you have a hook, but then you have like you know, 16 bar verse, and you're like rapping, you know, faster than a singer is probably singing. You have a lot more time to tell a story, a lot more fucking words in hip hop, a lot more words. Than any other genre. You're really like talking about something more than any other genre. I never really thought about that before. I think it's the greatest artistic medium ever. Yeah, um, and poetry meets music. Yeah, it's poetry on music. It's like syncopated poetry with cadence and flow and like said with emotion and performed. Like I can't think of a better medium to express yourself than hip hop. Like I'm so biased. But yeah, you ask a freaking rock musician and they're like, you fucking crazy assholes. Like, have you heard guitar solos for five minutes tell the most beautiful story there is? So you so you ended up spending some time in the restaurant industry. I think that was kind of a telling a bad but I think that was kind of a bad space for you, right?

You you kind of got to a point where mentally and physically, even you were you're not who you wanted to be at that point, right? Yeah, so I did I've all like my background professionally outside of music is definitely hospitality sales, customer service. Yeah. Um and I've had some highlights professionally, like I've worked in wealth management, I've made some real bread like in the private sector doing normal shit. Yeah, but but I cut my teeth in the restaurant business. I started um washing dishes when I was 14 or 15 in an Irish pub, and then worked my way up into you know working high-end fine dining and you know, being a head waiter at a place where you know it's gonna take you 500 to get a two-top out the door and with wine and food and blah blah and opening up those, and then at some point during that that progression, I was not really into music at the time. I decided that, you know, hey, I've got to address my life because if I I'm gonna be 40 waiting tables because the kind of money you make in high fine dining. I was busting tables and at fine dining, and I was making buku money.

I was like, shit, you you could just keep doing this forever. And I was making you know 180 grand a year waiting tables at 23 years old. Yeah, so like but probably spending all of it at the bar and up your nose and all sorts of other fun activities that come with the restaurant industry. For sure. So I joined the Navy. Exactly. There you go. No, yeah. So you end up, you know, getting in the military. Had you ever thought about getting the military before that? Or was it really like uh I gotta get my shit together and this is just one way to do that? Or like it was mostly that, yeah. But I had thought about it before because my grandfather was career and navy a naval officer career. Okay, cool. So there was always that respect in my household for the pedigree of someone who spent their career in the military, who served, yeah, especially an officer. Um, you know, and he was an attorney and um a naval officer, and we obviously had a tremendous amount of respect for him as a person and as a grandfather and as a professional, yeah. And so yeah, there was definitely um some knowledge of it growing up, and then the fact that I was a total shit show, but I was making crazy money at 23, and it's like, you know, I knew that if I didn't make some sort of significant change that that I'd be 38, 39, 40, like m you know, where I'm getting into now, uh, sadly, but be doing the same shit.

Yeah, and I wouldn't trade it for anything because now I can look back on those 10, 12, 13 years and say, wow, I've done a lot of different shit and a lot of cool shit because I decided to walk away from that. Yep. So your start in hip hop came in boot camp, right? Like you started rapping in boot camp? I would say, I would say I started rap. I wasn't started rapping in brutal honesty, yeah. Well, okay, well, and in high school in Mike Shinoda, Yeah, exactly. Or Nick Cannon, like oh gosh, shout out Nick Cannon. Shout out Nick Cannon in a comical way. Like I was always a guy. I can't believe we just shouted out Nick Cannon. We totally did. Because that's that is the foundation of my rap career. I would say it's not because I was inspired by it, but I was a joke rapper. It was like a joke. It was funny. Really? Yeah, like I would just be in the halls at high school just making up shit about dropping your textbooks and you know, some you know, teacher that was hot or whatever, just making jokes, you know what I mean? Like just funny.

And people would always be like, damn, he can come up with funny shit off the top of his head. And then that turned into brutal honesty, which later turned into, you know, a serious admiration and and I would say conquest of the craft, like to start it in the military, yeah, because I felt like there were at the time there wasn't a voice that was a military MC or a military rapper. There wasn't someone that was talking about the trials and tribulations of getting ready to go on deployment. There wasn't someone who was talking about war. There wasn't someone who was talking about our story and like the things that we go through when you know, really you're talking about you know, the poor kids of America pulling triggers for what the politicians say. And I just didn't think they had a voice. And that's where I got my starting. hip hop. Until I met you, I didn't even think of that as a show, as a sub genre at all. But like seeing what you had, you know, you know, what you did, you know, within that space, and then you mentioning that it is like a very like thriving sub-genre, right? Of like a very dedicated fan base, and there's also lots of artists that are competing in that space, whatever that I thought that was like super interesting.

I'd never heard of it. Military rap. Cause I'm. Yeah. It's a thing. It's totally a thing. A hundred percent. I mean, like you were slinging mixtapes, like on base or whatnot, right? Like, I mean, that's like there was an actual little scene, and like you were trying to make ends meet and like build your build a buzz like within your, I guess, you know, did you have any type of recording capabilities? Yeah, How did you do that? we went to Wilmington, North Carolina. So uh shout out Wilmington, North Carolina, shout out Cape Fear Studios. Oh wow. We were um on a base in Jacksonville, North Carolina, so it was Marine Corps Base, the one of the largest, if not the largest Marine Corps bases in the country. Um, and we recorded off base in Wilmington, North Carolina, which was like about an hour drive. Um, I cut an album called United. Uh, it was a group called Last Round, and we sold 2736 copies that's crazy of our album. And I wish I was Did you not learn your lesson on the group dynamic though? Yes from brutal honesty.

No, because you you yeah, because like you literally went from that to starting a rap group. But my, why the fuck did you do that? But my statements. Like literally. My statements though were still mine though. Okay. It was more about their message. Yeah, yeah, yeah. There was other points of view. Cause I guess you're still cool with like features and stuff in hip hop. Okay, but it was like just putting your words in someone else, or like them putting your their words in your mouth, or like whatever. Like, that sort of thing. well, it's just like my words are my words, and their words are their words, and plus like we can mix money together. So it's like, okay, this could cost me. Oh, so it was the political and like economical side of it, the business side. This could cost me five grand to do all by myself, yeah, all by my lonesome, or I could grab two other like really popular guys in the unit and we could chop it up three ways. It's just funny because he mentioned like not liking the the group dynamic of the band, and then he's like, so I started this rap group right after that. I'm like because he's like he's more in control. If it's, if it's if it's his group, no, I get what he's saying. No, it makes sense.

I get what I get what you're saying, but yeah, I hated the band, so I started a rap group. Yeah. And then I hated the rap group and I went solo. Yeah. You know what I'm saying? So you eventually, of course, go solo and you adopt the name Doc Todd. Mm-hmm. Doc coming from it was an earned nickname, which was this is the one thing I miss about it. Is because I earned that name on the field of battle. Yeah. I earned my rap name pulling triggers and plugging holes in Afghanistan. Everybody called me Doc. Yeah. You know what I'm saying? So that's tough to let go. It was fucking tough. It's still fucking tough, but I know I did the right thing. Yeah. And um, yeah, so I earned that nickname. So everybody called me Doc. Any corpsman that serves with Marines on the front lines, you know, in battle, and you know, doing emergency medicine and saving lives. They're called Doc. You know, we earn that we earn that title, we earn that moniker, if you will. Yeah.

And um and then Todd being your last name. Last name. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Nice. So it was it was simple. Yeah, it was Dr. Todd. Dr. Todd. Yeah. So your first release as Doc Todd was Combat Medicine, or was it? It was. Okay. And still to this day, my most successful song ever was the very first one I released as Doc Todd. Yeah, which song was that? Not alone. Shout out Not Alone. Not alone. Tell us, tell us what inspired that uh that record in particular. It was an anti-suicide song, and we were tracking, we tracked all of Combat Medicine in Nashville. My brother executive produced it along with Mook Beats. Uh, shout out Mook Beats. That's so cool to have worked with your brother, though. Yeah, yeah. That's really cool. Yeah, yeah. My sister's a dentist, so it's like there's no chance we'll ever work together in music. Plaque. You never know. Yo, that shit is whack. Yeah, yeah. Y'all can get a plaque, though. Yeah. That's funny. Plaque plaques. Plaque plaques. Got a plaque from my plaque, because that shit is whack. Dentist raps coming out 2022.

Boom. Boom, boom. Tartar control EP. Tartar control EP. Yeah, this is terrible. It's getting so bad in here. No, so like, like, yeah, Mook and my brother, and and this was my return to music. So there was a long break. What? After the group? Yeah. Well, after the military, after United, and then like coming out and going to school and being like a normal person. Just figuring shit out, and then music was kind of like, okay, I can't handle it. It was like what making music. It's a pipe dream. Like, I mean, being a rap artist, it still is a pipe dream for everyone who's trying to rap out there. Like, there's a million other people. Yeah. A lot of them are good. Good luck. Good luck to you. Like it's a fucking, I still think I'm crazy. Yeah, it's fucked up. I mean, it is, it may be the single hardest thing to do in the world. Wow. Not to mention Suave again, but he literally goes by the crazy man and he goes, Because you literally gotta be a little crazy to do this shit. to want to do this. Yeah, yeah.

Yeah. So I think it might, it might be the single hardest endeavor to conquer in the world. Yeah. So for that, I have an unbelievable amount of respect for anyone who's willing to try. But when I say willing to try, I mean really try. Like you know if you're really trying or not. Yeah. Yeah. And big facts. You didn't just put out some bullshit on SoundCloud and cross your fingers for followers and fans because that's not how it works. So I I took a hiatus and did what the world told me to do, which was, you know, come out of the military and get a college education and you know, make some money, go to work, start a family. I did all those things, and then there was this emptiness, you know, that existed in me because of the fact that I wasn't doing what I love, which is music. You know, something that's always been there, something that's always been in my heart, and something that I've always wanted to do and wanted to do at a high level, and chose to walk away from at multiple points in my life for whatever reason, and I just couldn't square with it anymore. And It's like an addiction, man.

Yeah, and I said, you know what, I gotta go do something. And if I was gonna do something, let's let's like make it have a niche or a lane or a purpose. So, like I went and made combat medicine, which was focused on impacting uh veteran suicide and you know, military mental health and addiction, and we Which is I feel like a bigger deal than people realize. Huge deal. And you kind of shone a light on that. Shone? Is that a word? Yeah, shined, shine, shone, shone, shined, shown. A light was cast. Yeah. We make up words on the podcast all the time. And so it's like I don't even second guess whatever the fuck you're saying, because I'm like, who cares if it's a real word? It doesn't matter as long as long as it's we're picking up what you're putting down, my friend. So we made not alone and not alone was just an anti-suicide song. We got covered on CNN, we got covered on NPR. Yeah, talk to us about the press. There was some serious, you know, serious press press around it for an independent artist to have been featured on some of these you know, media outlets. So, you know, so you mentioned NPR. ABC, CNN, um, I mean, everyone.

Like, basically everyone but Fox, which that's kind of what's surprising to me because I'm like, it was military pro-military. That's your family. Yeah, hyper-conservative white people. How the fuck does Fox not cover the thing? Fuck you, Fox News, shitheads. Fox? Everyone covered it with no Fox. We would not love to have you on the podcast. Stay away, Fox. Yeah, I was shocked that Fox didn't cover it. Everybody covered it but Fox. Was there a PR strategy that you were implementing? Yeah. How did that happen? Yeah, like for people that wanna, you know, are interested in getting buzz on their releases. Because press is like mythical creature. Right? People are confused by press. Yeah. People don't know how to get it. Yeah. Of course they do it. Yeah. Like how did you actually anyone who knows me and Mr. H3 knows me and he knows that I I will tell you how to do it. I will do that. And I expect other people. to- He'll give us the sauce. Yeah. I'll give you the sauce, and I expect other people to give me the sauce. Just because I give you the sauce doesn't mean that you can pull it off, though. Mm-hmm. There's plenty of like how to books if people can't read them.

So you gotta execute. Yeah. Execution. I'm married to a publicist. That's a good start. Shout out my wife. Shout out. Shout out, Mrs. Joy. first and foremost, you it has to be newsworthy. Sure. So the story was newsworthy. Yeah. So two things must exist for you to get press. You must have newsworthy material or a newsworthy release, and you must properly pitch it. So we had newsworthy material and a newsworthy release, and it was properly pitched. Uh it was pitched to the right outlets. We did a um, we were they do something. My wife did it, but they released it on a press wire where it can get picked up. Um so she released it on a press wire, and then she also reached out to NPR was the domino that fell. So one domino. I would imagine exactly.

Like if someone sees from ABC that, like, shit. Did you see that story that NPR had? And like, now they want a piece of it. Yeah, so once one domino falls, then they all fall. Damn, okay. Or they all start to fall because they're all copying off each other for a unique story. So, like, so we pitched, so that comes down to where you pitch it and why you pitch it, but you gotta be newsworthy first. And a song by a combat veteran, a legitimate combat veteran who fought in some heavy shit, talking about anti-suicide and like reclaiming your life is a newsworthy story. Okay. Yeah, totally. So, where do we pitch that and why do we pitch it? Okay, so we pitch it to NPR because NPR covered my unit in Afghanistan. So my wife pitched them and said, Hey, did you ever wonder what happened to those guys that you covered in 2009? Well, here's one of them who did this. Oh, wow. So she pitched that's a good pitch. So now you have a newsworthy story with a good pitch that gets someone's attention. NPR picked it up and then everybody picked it up.

Let's real quick on the One More Time podcast. When we feel like an artist has dropped a serious gem, one more time. We asked that they just sum that just one more time. One more time. If an artist wants to get some press, because that was a gem. That was a big gem. Let's just nail that one home real quick. Give them that one more time, just to summary it if they want to get press. The news, the the release must be newsworthy. So what you're doing needs to matter for some reason. Yes. It has to be newsworthy. Like, you know, like throwing champagne on a bitch's ass, it's not newsworthy. So damn it, I wish it was. I wish it was too. everyone would be famous. Yeah. I'd love that to be my headline on the times. It has to be newsworthy, and then it has to be properly pitched. If you have something that's newsworthy and you pitch it properly, you will get press. Period. Boom. Do you recommend people making songs that are specifically newsworthy if they want press? Yes and no. I'll say that traditional press doesn't move the hip-hop needle, which is what agreed. Which is what caused big facts. A lot of another gem,

which is what caused a lot of stress. One more time. And a lot of stress in my career is that I mean, you gotta think. Like you just drop a debut album, you get covered by every major news house news outlet in the country, and then nothing. Then crickets. Damn. It hurt. Like I thought we were. I thought we were gonna go. And but that's even what and and I mean, you you kind of hit the nail on the head because people also expect that hip-hop specific press is gonna move their needle. And I mean, you can get covered by the complexes, the you know, hip hop dx's, the pigeons in planes, the you know, whoever, and you still might not break because of one article about you, just because it's in the right place. So you're mentioning that these were almost somewhat of the wrong places, potentially for hip-hop fans at least, right? Yeah, the people that saw it were like, wow, this is a great story. They did not go listen.

Now I'm moving on with my life. Yeah, No, for sure. No, it's good feedback, man. You know what I mean? That's crazy. No, seriously. So they were then watching Jeopardy or Wheel of Fortune right after that. Right, like they're not, they don't get first. My parents, I like feel like you could have that's very inspiring. Pat Sajak is coming on. Yeah, so so you kind of exactly what happened. So you kind of hinted at this earlier, but recap kind of today. What's your relationship like with the veteran community? Uh strained. Um I I think it's it's strained for multiple reasons. One, I'm not gonna do what they expect me to do, and then two, it's a very cliquish environment, just like hip-hop as well. Like everyone's fighting for attention, everyone's fighting for money, everyone's fighting for eyes, and the last thing that they want to do is shout somebody else out, which is the part where I don't fit in with anyone because like I do fundamentally believe that no one's shine takes away from mine, and I do fundamentally believe in collaboration. Like there's plenty of shine.

There's plenty of shine, abundance of shine. There's enough shine for everyone. Yeah, they don't like me because I'm different. Um, they think they probably think I'm a lot different politically, where maybe I'm very much a moderate. I'll just go ahead and put it out there. Like I wanted to do a podcast called The Radical Moderate, because I'm like in between all you crazy fuckers. Like that's the way like I genuinely believe. Like y'all, y'all are all fucking nuts, and I'm here on this island of like sanity. They never liked me. They never embraced the veteran community, never fully embraced me because I will say this, you know, about the artistry that was Doc Todd, that was those three albums that I put out and the EPs that I put out, is that we found a tasteful, genuine, authentic way to make military-centric music to make it in a non-corny way where we weren't just attacking the lowest common denominator. Like where I wasn't like running out with a mohawk and an American flag, like wrapped around my ass on a lawnmower.

Like we didn't like, you know what I'm saying? Like, we didn't know that. That sounds so viral, man. Maybe do that, though. It is. It's viral. You should totally do that, even in London J's brand. Like, I would definitely follow you on TikTok for that. I mean it works, like shooting fucking, you know, fireworks out of your ass. Roman candles. Roman candles at each other, like American flag. Yeah. Yeah, talk. I mean, we didn't do that. We tried to bring a tasteful approach to like some of the real issues that face the military and veteran community that face people that are struggling with mental health and struggling with addiction and struggling with suicidal ideations. We try to bring a real approach to that, a real artistic approach, a thoughtful approach, an intelligent approach. And it turns out that shooting fireworks out of your ass works a lot better. You've obviously transitioned away from Doc Todd. You've kind of let it, you know, have served its purpose. Now you've you know become London J.

But your last project, you had a pretty great accomplishment as Doc Todd. I mean, something you worked really hard for. Tell us about C.O.D.O.S. Yeah. C.O.D.O.S. Tell us what you accomplished with that and you know what it meant to you. The last project that I did as Doc Todd charted on the top 40 US hip hop albums chart. It peaked at number seven. Um that's really cool. Yeah, it's huge. It's really fucking hitting me. Uh Doc Todd and Quentin, C.O.D.O.S., which is an acronym. It's a good one. Shout out Q. Shout out Q. Shout out Q. One time. We already knew we would shout you out in this episode. We talked about it before. We finally got there. Yeah. We Did it? So you bastard Q. You made it into the episode. So yeah, what did it mean to you? And how did you do it? I did it on pre-sales. Again, sharing the sauce. That doesn't change the work that you have to do. Which I have. He already knew to like look at the camera when you make a point. That's genius.

So when you want to have something hit really hard, you hit them right there in the middle camera on the low. If you want you, I'm talking to you. This is a clip. Listening, you you want to chart your project. You want it to be top 40 US hip hop albums. Who doesn't? You want that. You need that. It fucking doesn't help you that much. But you still should do that. So how do you do that? Social proof. Do you think that you can compete with Drake on streams? No. Young Thug? No. Uzi Vert? No. Yeezy? Tay K from jail? No. Not even from jail. You can't compete with an artist that's locked up. No, none. You cannot outstream any of those fuckers. But you know what you can do? Pre-sales. Pre-sales. That's something you can control. And I tell you that if you can manifest above 500 pre-sales, you can chart. And if you can manifest over 1,500 pre-sales, you can chart on billboard.

But do it on a single, not on an album, because there is no pre-charting for sales on albums. That takes in radio data and streaming data, and you can't compete there. You can only compete on pre-sales. So text your friends, text your wife, text your cousins, text every motherfucker that you've ever known and let them know that they're going to be spending $399 to $6.99 on your fucking EP. And if they do what you've asked them to do, you have a small, I mean small chance to chart in the top 40 on the US hip hop albums chart. So go berate everyone with spam. Tell them to buy your trash project for $399 to $6.99, and you can chart too. And it's not going to move the needle much, but you'll be able to say that you charted forever. Boom. Episode over. No, I'm just kidding.

So that's like, I'm not even going to one more time that, even though it's so one more timeable. Like that was just a moment. We can't have him repeat that. That just needs to live. They only get to hear the sauce once, Henry. Rewind the episode. motherfuckers. We did that. We uh sold like six or seven hundred pre-sales, and we hit number seven. We peaked at number seven. And you were and you're competing, they were competing with DMX who had just passed. Yeah. And they probably could have gotten could have got higher. There were at least two or three, I think DMX projects above y'all, right? Yeah, my man Q would have sold a few. He would have been a good thing. Shout out Q. Shout out, Q. shout out Q. Yeah, I love him. so moving on to London Dre. Um, I you know, Henry actually was asking this before we were on camera, so I want to definitely repeat the question is what's different about London Dre. Is it just the name? Yeah, or is it the music and the overall story? Like, tell us, you know, this is your chance to kind of pitch what it is that you're trying to do differently with London Dre. Because I mean that was something you were asking before, and I think it's it's very you know worthy.

No, no, it is, and and Henry, it's hard for me. Like, people need to understand like this is difficult for me. Like, it was a tough decision. It's something I told with for over a year, and I try I tried to do it once before, and it was just like, well, this doesn't make business sense because now I can't say, oh, I'm a charting artist, or oh, I was on CNN, or oh, I was on ABC, or oh, I did this or did that, like all that's out the window. And you know, first you have to square yourself with the fact that everything you've accomplished as an artist is no longer relevant to some degree, um, as it pertains to a name. But you know, me and Doc Todd was kind of just ascending to the point in the music game to where I was getting around folks like y'all. I was always big in the press game and big on the fan base game, but I wasn't running with real hitters in the music game until the end. And you guys came in towards the end where all this shit was already deep in my thought process. So C.O.D.O.S. is a departure from Doc Todd in a lot of ways musically.

And it and it was starting to happen. And then the name of it, see you on the other side, was in a sense, I'm telling people like something's gonna change, and I'm gonna see you on the other side of this change. I didn't even think about that. It's almost like see you on the other side when I'm not Doc Todd anymore. Wow. Like I knew that I knew these things were happening longer than everyone else did. Um but with that being said, yeah, it's a departure musically, but I think that the there's been some sort of evolution or unwinding of it. And you know, people that have come on towards like Codos and projects like that, they started to they were seeing that before it actually manifested. So it is a change in music. It's uh also a change in brand, it's also a change in approach, but mostly it's it's about freedom. And like I wanted the name to be arbitrary. Like when you talk about childish Gambino or Post Malone like picking their names on some rap name generator. I didn't necessarily do that.

I kind of halfway did that, but I just I love that story though. You guys are kind of halfway did that. Yeah, I halfway did that. Which one was it for? London or Dre? London. Oh, Wow. And then and then Dre and then Dre was like, like kind of like, well, that's a good way for me to give an ode to Doc Todd in a sense, because obviously Doc Dre is one of the most iconic producers. ever. Doc and Dre. You know, Doc and Dre kind of go together, so it was like it's really arbitrary because I don't want to be incarcerated by my name. And a brand and a name is is so fundamentally important to what you become. Everything about my name kept away the youth. Everything about my name kept away people of color. Everything about my name kept away this inclusive and diverse idea of the amount of people that I want to touch and impact their life. Wow. Why would I have a name that pushes so many people away when I'm trying to have a name that welcomes people in? So it was just so much just about the simplicity and the foundation of saying that a name is about what you're attracting. And everything that Doc Todd was attracting was more of the same.

And I want to attract different. I want to attract more. I want to be inclusive, not exclusive. I want to be, I want to welcome people in, not push people away. So it's just like the name is just a is an instrument or a vehicle to touch lives. And that's always what I've been about. Sure. And I just want to touch more lives in more spaces than just military. Yep. So you have two singles out thus far. Right? Those are though, and I I'm gonna tell you, those are setup singles. And and because we knew the transition would be hard. And we knew it was gonna be hard to pull over fan base. We knew it was gonna be hard to do everything we've done behind the scenes. The two big records, these two records I stand by them, they're great. Uh Trap Phone is a record that's out now, and it's about leaving a voicemail on a friend's phone who's passed away. Where I've done that many times. I don't know if you've ever called someone's phone that has passed just to hear their voice. I've done that.

So that that's that one. And um, you know, it could be someone who passed from anything, not a military circumstance or normal life circumstance, natural causes in the streets, whatever. It's just like, look, you know, I love you, and sometimes I call your phone to hear your voicemail because you're not here anymore. The next one is is bail me out, which is really more about just being taken out of a negative circumstance, calling on some sort of outside power to deliver you from your own problems and your own issues. And there's a lot of, I would say there's a lot of religious undertones to it without it being a religious song. Um and I like it. We got a great visual out with that with Calvin Tigray, but the two London Dre records that matter, that really, and not that those don't matter, but there it was some sort of transitionary plan. The ones that matter are coming, and and um this is a departure from Doc Todd. Memphis is my life is a departure from Doc Todd.

Memphis is my life, is like a hard hitting fucking smack you in the face. Like I grew up in South Memphis and fought in Afghanistan, bitch. And like I'm fucking coming with the shit, and I'm not constricted by my name, shit. Like I'm gonna fuck you up. Like I'm the baddest white boy that ever lived. Shit. Like, there is no other I am the great white hype motherfucker. Like, there is no other motherfucker out there that grew up in South Memphis that fought in Afghanistan that spit in bars like this. That is that shit. And yes, that's a departure from Doc Todd. Because it's like it's on some hard shit. And then all I do is on some hard shit. So the the future is coming. It's probably not gonna be coming out by the time this episode airs, I don't believe, right? But it doesn't matter. So, but okay, but I do want to play a snippet from something that's out. So would you like to play a snippet from bail me out or um trap phone? Bail me out. Bail me out? Yeah. Let's do it. Play a little snippet from there. Let's do it.

Right back to the pain from yesterday. I stand in the light of these brighter days. You're a part of me. Part of me. I take a step back and I breathe. You're a part of me. Part of me. Tattoo your heart on my sleeve. You're a part of me. Yeah. Never thinking that you might leave. Inside of me is not free. You're a part of me, believe me. My mind's racing my soul. Your life's taking a toll on me. So that was a snippet from Bail Me Out, one of the first two records that are post London Dre transformation. I called my brother about that song. And I said, we said the same thing. I said it sounds like a deep cut on a great album. Like meaning, like it's not a hit. Like it ain't a hit. So not a true single in the most stereotypical definition of the word. Definitely not. Okay. But like. But you you wanted to give it to the people as one of the first transitions into this is like a deep ass cut on like a legendary album. Like this is a great record that's not a single.

Yeah. Okay, cool. We're moving in the right direction. Okay. Um, and it was special to me because, like, yo, this was fucking hard, bro. Something one of my buddies told me that really, really resonates with me to this day, and it might be another gem is it's either it or it's not it. One more time. There's no in between. One more time. It is either it or it is not it. A or B, motherfucker. There's no, there's no in between. If Doc Todd was it, it would have already been it. But it's not it. It was cool, it was awesome, it had its successes, it had its ups, it had its downs, but it wasn't it. If it was it, it would have been it. And there's a difference between giving up and understanding when to retool and to rebrand and to re-fire. Because so many people get so caught up in like that symbol of like, well, if you would have just dug one more inch, you would have got it. Or if you would have done just one more, like motherfucker, you was not there in the beginning.

It was not it. Like it just wasn't ever gonna be it. Like you needed to start over. You should have started over, you should have retooled, you should have regrouped, you should have came up with another plan because you're digging in the wrong motherfucking hole. And um it was a lot of it's hard to come to grips with the fact that you put your heart, your soul, your money, your time, your effort, your blood, your sweat, your tears, into something saying, you know what, this isn't built to win, so we need to regroup. Yeah, so you know, so we did. Okay, Boom. boom, and just like that, the little camera magic, the magic refilling glass. Speaking of magical, Henry, we're at a magical part of the one more time podcast. Yes, we are that we like to call the rapid fire rampage curated by Henry with a three. I'm putting my glasses on. I haven't been able to see this whole interview. Nothing, there's nothing, there's nothing to see here, man.

There's nothing to see you. All you need to see for the rapid fire rampage is seeing into your soul. I knew you were gonna say that. So I don't need to see are we at the point where I can fit where you know we can finish each other's sandwiches? Oh, no, okay. I guess not. Touche, touche, well played. London Dre. AKA FKA, right? FKA. Yeah, you can still do the FKA. Y'all can still call me Doc, bro. London Dre is weird. Because you know, Shelly has the FKA dram. What is Doc Dragon? But what is the FKA? Formerly known as. Formerly known as. Yeah, so you known as Doc Todd. Yeah, yeah. If you're cool with the FKA. Yeah, I'm fine with it. I like Doc, it's short. Yeah, fuck people. It doesn't matter. This is the Rapid Fire Rampage. It's broken down into three parts. First part, I'm gonna ask you some short answer questions. Just give me a quick answer. Okay. Second part's gonna be this or that. I'm gonna give you a couple choices. You're gonna pick one off the top of your head, whichever one gravitates to your psyche quicker. This is a dangerous segment. It is, because you're not allowed to think that fast that much. And then the last part is word association.

I'm gonna give you one word. You're gonna give me one word right back. Okay? Okay. And I'll break that down again as we go. you'll teach me again as we go. Yep. I want to shout out real quick. Okay. This man copped an auto-tune shirt. Shout out the auto tune shirts. Right before the episode, he said, hey, do you have my size? They had it. Thankfully, we had it. So it's a quadruple quinch. It's not. No, no, it's a double X, and I stretched it out. It looks beautiful. And I will say, being from Memphis, the fact that they kind of rips the AutoZone logo makes it a lot better for me because AutoZone is a company from the M. Wow. Shout out AutoZone. It makes way more sense now that you were all about it. Autotuneshirt.com. Autotuneshirt.com shirt.com. Auto Tune Shirt.com is now live. You can get yours today. I got them in black and white. Auto-tune. I don't use it, but I support it. There you go. Rapid fire rampage. All right. London, Dre, episode 22. Okay.

Starting with the short answer. Here we go. Give us two of your top five artists or bands of all time. Elton John Pog. Give us your favorite project of 2021 so far. Donda. How many slices of cheese could fit on a blimp? 6,236. It's way more than that. What the fuck? Can't go back. back. It's like millions. It's too late. You've been given a Bengals tiger as a gift. You can't give it away or sell it. What do you do with it? Made it. What are three things we would find in your refrigerator right now? Mayonnaise. So fast. Cheese. You are hosting a dinner party, and you can invite any three people, dead or alive. Who are they?

God may or not be three. Martha Stewart and Kanye. You've just been put on death row for felony murder charge of over 1,000 beats. What is your last meal? Um it's gonna be it's gonna be jerk chicken, but it has to be smoked or grilled, it can't be oven. I want rice, peas, and cabbage, oxtail gravy, and a beef patty. Um and definitely like at least a fifth of vodka. If you were one part of this bicycle, which part would you be? I'm the wheel. Any particular reason for that answer? Because I fucking keep going. He gets it going. I never stop, baby. Love it. Nothing's gonna, nothing's gonna stop me. Just turn. Not even a flat. Not even a flat. Which it is right now, but we're not. Don't zoom in on the wheels. On a scale of one to ten.

How weird do you think you are? A six. Yeah, respectable weirdness. Yeah. What is one question you'd like to ask God? Why? Love it. Why? Why? How do you like your eggs? A scramble with cheese. First part of the rampage. First part. Breezed through. Not too bad. It was okay. Here we go. Um, part two of the rapid fire rampage. It's a this or that. I'm gonna give you two choices. You're just gonna pick one, whichever one stands out to you the most. Here we go. Alright. Rampage. lyrics or flow? Flow. Atlanta or Memphis? Memphis. Public speaking or performing? Performing. Pineapple pizza or candy corn? Pineapple pizza. Invisibility or flying? Invisibility. Ribs or brisket? Ribs. Let's talk about that for a second.

You are notoriously wicked behind the barbecue. Yes. Is that true? That is actually true. Is that just a Memphis? Everyone who's from Memphis can do that, or is that a huge issue? Memphis has good barbecue? I would like to say that it's that, and that would be like me perpetuating the lie. And that's what I'm supposed to do here. Yeah. I love it. No, you're not. But I'm not gonna perpetuate the lie. I was taught. I was I was I was taught how to appropriately man the smoke pit. So what's your favorite thing to cook? Ribs. Loin back ribs. Is it? Yeah, for sure. Damn, I'm so hungry right now. Because they're the best. I mean, like we always do these around dinner time, so I'm like so fucking hungry right now. Henry knows I'm like an 80-year-old man. If you don't feed me by like six, I'd start getting like the shakes or something worse. It's the highest degree of difficulty on the smoke pit outside. The two the funny that the two things you picked are the two hardest things to cook in barbecue, which is brisket. Because they're the best.

Did you know that when preparing the rapid fire rampage question? Totally. Of course. I know everything. I really wanted to give I really wanted to give them a difficult one with those. No, it's they're the two hardest things to cook. How do you make them fall off the bone? Uh, you just pull them off at the appropriate time. Timing. That's the number one. Is it a temperature thing or is it a timing? Uh to me, there's three tests that you do with ribs to make sure they're done. One is the lean test. So you take a pair of tongs, you pick the rack up in the middle, and you pick it up, you know, right in the middle. The two sides should lean pretty hard, and they should almost Oh, shit. they should break. I mean, really. It should be like if I don't put this down, it's gonna break. Okay. That's step one. Oh, damn. Step two is you put like a toothpick or a skewer in there, and it should feel like it's going into like warm butter, like there's no resistance. Yeah. Oh baby. I'm salivating right now. And the third thing you look at is bone recession, which I love to say that slow bone recession. You know what I'm saying?

You look at how much the meat has receded from the tip of the bone. You should have, you know, somewhere around an inch and a half, something like that. You know, bone recession. Here we go. Moving on to the rampage. Art museum or history museum. Neither. Can I say that? Yes. Bar soap or body wash. Bar soap. Good man. Yeah. Phone notes, pen and paper, or mental. Phone notes now. I'm older, used to be mental. Cash or credit. Cash. Android or iPhone. iPhone. Part two of the rampage. Part two. Damn, this is fun now. It went a little smoother besides the barbecue breakaway. Which that was that was cool too. That's fine. Last part of the rampage, it's gonna be the word association. Well, because we gotta let people know why the hell did you. Well, I thought you were gonna touch on barbecue in the episode, and you didn't. I didn't find a way to weave it in the conversation, Henry. I don't want to just be like, hey, how about that barbecue after we're talking?

Shout out, uh, shout out Ben for like the best pre-production ever on the Nard Wire of Podcast. The Nard Wire Podcast, up and coming podcast, getting all the info. Telling you. Yes, sir. Last part of the rampage is the word association. All right. I'm gonna fire one word at you. You give me one word right back. Okay. If it if it's two words, you know, maybe it's okay. Henry, just keep stop qualifying. You're right. All right. One word. One word. Fast. Yes. Quick. It's a rapid fire rampage. I try. I'm sorry. Y'all been drinking me the whole time I got here. Drinking you. Cheers. Y'all been drinking me. I was like, I've not been drinking you. You've been drinking me. I got a, I got a, I got a London Coke. You've been undressing me with your eyes. Last part of the rampage, word association. Buckle up. London Dre, episode 22. All right. Pluto. Space. Pitbull. Awesome. Anxiety. Got it. Flower.

My vagina. Microphone. Nothing. Nothing came. It should have came, but it didn't come. Did you like order a microphone and it didn't show up? What happened? This just total, like the abyss of my mind gave me nothing. That's acceptable. So nothing is the word. That's acceptable. Okay. Just FYI. You can take a little longer if you if you No, I mean I'd rather you say nothing. Yeah, nothing came. That's it. Nothing came. Spider-Man. Gay. Not in the bad way, but gay. Yeah, definitely. Those white conservatives would love this one. I'm in trouble now. Yeah. He said Spider-Man's gay. We're canceling London. He's canceled. Water. Necessary.

Cryptocurrency. Don't get it. Disco. Great. Children. Got some. Fair enough. Clock. I mean, time, I guess. I mean, damn. One more time. There you go. One more time. We're fine with it. Party. Me. Electric. Slide. God. Lemon. Hayes. My boy. Shout out to London Dre for coming on the one more time. podcast. Oh, I'm done. He's not done. Jesus, man. Can I do my last three? Nope. Yep. I'm I did bad on the last round. I'm so sorry. No, this is great. Totally thought that was the last one. Electric slide in Lemon Hayes. Because you went, you went like ape shit after it. Because I was excited because we did. Okay. I got three more. All right.

NASA. Fake. Politics. Whack. Veteran. Done. Henry. There it is. Have you wrapped up? I'm done. I didn't want to preemptively finish your rampage for you. I said I had three more and I did three more. I can't count. London. Help me out with the gay Spider-Man thing. All right. Y'all can put that part on there, but just in general, you know, pull your millennial shit, you know, and help your boy out, you know. So, no, man, this has been an amazing episode. You know, I think it was important for at this early stage in the London Dre era for you to be able to, you know, sit down and talk through where you came from, because I think it is really important. Like we were talking about earlier. You didn't just come out of the woodworks be in London Dre. So you do have this past and you know, this previous brand that I think is is important for people to know that are now trying to you know latch onto this this new one. So we appreciate you coming on.

Yeah, man. You got an amazing story. You're an amazing guy, captivating uh, you know, personality. So definitely appreciate you coming on and rocking with the auto tune shirt. Shout out. Don't use it, but I support it. Yep, you know what I'm saying? Auto tune shirt.com. I gotta thank y'all, man, for having me out because it is it is important, you know, that that I get a chance like this. And that and here's one of the things that I want to say, like leave you with some last words. Is the joy and the pureness of the art is something that I'm so connected with now that that I got away from in the midst of the hustle and the grind. And it's like this is an opportunity to reach one new person, yeah, or two new people, and that's precious. Yeah, it's it's the same for us. We really do appreciate all of you guys tuning in every week. Hope you're not sick of us just yet because we really are just getting started. Every single follower, every single viewer, every single listener really does mean a lot. We'd love to meet you guys at some point.

So please hit us up in the DMs. Let us know who you are, where you're from, what you're into, and who we should have on the podcast. Who should we have? We love getting recommendations, and then so uh until next week, Henry. What are we doing? We're getting the fuck out of here. We fucking out. Bye-bye. Bubba Lemon Haze. We're gonna go play Lemon Haze. Yeah, right now. Hop up in a fine skirt. Yeah.